


Headlights

by trashycatarcade



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Blind Character, Blind Keith (Voltron), Fluff and Angst, Major Character Injury, slowish burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 06:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17116181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashycatarcade/pseuds/trashycatarcade
Summary: “Hey, wait! I know you! Keith right? We went to the same middle school, I used to fight you about soccer during gym! Do you remember me?” Lance asked.“I-” Keith begins to talk again but is interrupted by Pidge’s laughter."Take a good look, Keith. Do you remember him? Recognize Lance at all?”





	Headlights

**Author's Note:**

> So this will probably be about 3 chapters, idk when I'll update next, hopefully soon! Also, the reason Keith's guide dog isn't named Cosmo is because I started writing this before Cosmo was introduced and I didn't want to change the name. If it's that big of a deal I'll change it, but for now I'm keeping Zinnia. And lastly, this is not edited.. sorry lol

When Keith wakes up, the first thing he does is take Zinnia outside. He then brings her back up to his and Shiro’s apartment and showers. Shiro has usually gone to work before Keith is even awake, so Keith is given a false feeling of independence. Keith only has work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so he ends up being bored a lot. He mostly frequants the same locations because that’s what’s easiest. Sometimes he pushes his luck and goes for walks without his cane or Zinnia when he’s feeling rebellious. He’s only had to call Shiro to get him twice afterwards.

 

Keith moves to the kitchen and finds the breakfast Shiro left him in a pan on the stove, an omelette. He sits at the kitchen table for a while, looking through his email and feeling a bit bored. Maybe he could take Zinnia to the dog park? She always loves that and he feels bad she doesn’t to play as much as other dogs. He’s been promising to meet up with Pidge for two weeks now, too.

 

He texts Pidge and lays on the couch while he waits for his response. His phone chirps in little time with a response, she’ll pick him up in an hour. It will take a little while for him to get ready to get out the door. It’s getting colder out, so he wants to wear his Doc Martens, but they’re stuffed in the closet where he put them at the end of winter. He forgot to ask Shiro to get them out for him, so he was just going to have to get them himself. Keith could wait for Pidge to get there and ask her to help, but sometimes he felt like doing things himself.

 

By now, after being blind for almost seven years, Keith has begrudgingly gotten used to having to ask for a little help. People usually didn’t mind too much, but Keith did. His least favorite thing in the entire universe was feeling weak. If he had a dollar for every time he has argued with his parents or Shiro about his ability to do something, Keith believes he would be a millionaire. Even though he has been told many times by many people that asking for help “in his condition” was nothing to be ashamed of, it still made him angry sometimes.

 

So, he goes to the closet by the front door and opens the door. He thought that he may be able to find them on the floor, but all that were there were boxes under the various coats hanging there. He stood on his toes to reach up to the shelf above the coats and felt the familiar leather of his boots. He made to pull them down from the shelf and stumbles over the boxes at his feet into the coats. His side landed on the boxes and a few things fell from the top shelf. Keith yelped in the process, which alerted Zinnia to come running over. With impact to the boxes, Keith sat there dazed for minute, before laughing. Of course.

 

“Zinnia, why do I get these dumb ideas?” Keith sighed and laughed a little again. He pulled himself out of the disaster the closet was now, he had actually managed to hang onto his boots through the fall, so he was counting this as a success. He shut the closet door, having to shove it so the stuff would fit back in. He would tell Shiro about that later.

 

Keith grabs a few things and tosses them into a cinch bag, most of it is Zinnia’s stuff that he brings with everywhere and the rest is his phone charger and his wallet. He turns the tv on and sets himself back up on the couch until Pidge arrives. Zinnia settles next to him on the couch, resting her head on his lap.

 

Keith is starting to nod off when his phone chirps, alerting him that Pidge is waiting downstairs. He harnesses Zinnia and she guides him to the door out of the apartment building. He hears the slam of a car door and then Pidge is greeting him, holding her elbow out that he reaches out for. Pidge helps Zinnia into the back of her civic while Keith gets into the passenger seat.

 

“So what are we doing?” Keith asks and Pidge pats his hand reassuringly. He knows that she’s probably smirking, Shiro’s told him about The Smirk.

 

“Don’t worry Keithy, I have a day of fun planned for us.” Pidge chuckled.

 

They first had to stop for coffee because Pidge admitted to him that she was running on three hours of sleep, Keith didn’t even want to know how many shots of espresso she got in her drink. Then they end up at Pidge’s apartment, Keith has been there enough that he’s fairly familiar with the layout and where to find things without asking. They watch the new Thor movie that he didn’t catch in theaters, Pidge is used to having the audio description on for Keith by now. They’re sitting quietly, Zinnia in between them on the couch when there’s suddenly loud knocking at Pidge’s door. Keith jumps a little at the sudden noise which Pidge catches and laughs at. He glares at her general direction while she gets the door.

 

…

 

Lance hears footsteps come towards the door before it’s yanked open. He opens his mouth to start yelling at Pidge but she sees it coming and covers his mouth with her hand. He, immaturely, licks her palm. Pidge screeches and immediately starts wiping her hand off on her jeans.

 

“Anyways, I am going to literally fail my physics test tomorrow if you don’t help me study right now.” Lance whines and dramatically pulls on Pidge’s shirt.

 

“I’m busy, ask Hunk.” Pidge brushes him off of her and he groans.

 

“You think I didn’t ask him first? He’s way more accessible… well he usually is, he’s at work.” He groans.

 

“Keith, can I help this fuck study? It’ll be like an hour tops and then I’ll kick him out.” Pidge addresses the other person in the room that Lance had neglected to notice. He feels heat rise to his cheeks, he hadn’t realized a complete stranger had heard him whining.

 

“I guess, but you have to take me to the dog park tomorrow then.” The guy replies. Lance looks at him for a minute, feeling like he recognizes him slightly. He has long dark hair that Lance swears is very mullet-like, he’s wearing tight black jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He’s also not looked at Lance once, he keeps his eyes glued to the large german shepard laying next to him, he’s petting it on the head.

 

“Pidgey! You got a dog and didn’t tell me? What the hell?!” Lance said excitedly and dropped his backpack on the floor. He pushed past Pidge to get to the dog.

 

“She’s not my dog, she’s Keith’s.” Pidge followed Lance to where Keith’s sitting.

 

“He’s going to pet Zinnia.” Pidge stated and Lance looked at her weird. Why did she say that?

 

“Why’d you bring your dog to Pidge’s? She doesn’t look like a puppy.” Lance asked, reaching out to pet the dog’s back.

 

“Well, she’s actually-”

 

Wait, Lance totally recognized this guy. It was all coming back to him now, he recognized the mullet.

 

“Hey, wait! I know you! Keith right? We went to the same middle school, I used to fight you about soccer during gym! Do you remember me?” Lance said and moved his attention to Keith. Keith didn’t look at him, he kept petting the dog.

 

“I-” Keith begins to talk again but is interrupted by Pidge’s laughter. Lance whips his head around to look at her. What’s she laughing at?

 

“Take a good look, Keith. Do you remember him? Recognize Lance at all?” Pidge says between giggles and Keith snorts. Are they making fun of him? Do they have some inside joke he’s not in on? Lance starts to feel embarrassed by their laughter and stops petting the dog.

 

“Shut up, Pidge. Uh, Lance, I kinda remember a kid named Lance but it’s been ten years, dude. I also am blind, so you probably have better judgement than I do.” Keith settled his laughter down enough to speak. Keith’s.. Blind?

 

“Uhhhh… what?” Lance feels dumb.

 

“I went blind when I was sixteen, Zinnia’s my guide dog, and also I am remembering kicking your ass at soccer.” Keith says and Lance gapes. Pidge breaks out into another fit of laughter.

 

“You did not! I totally beat you a few times!” Lance argues. Keith laughs again and Lance notices how nice the sound of Keith’s laugh is. He feels his cheeks heat up again and he looks away from Keith.

 

“So... studying Lance?” Pidge questions regaining her composure. Lance nods and walks over to where he dropped his backpack to get his things. He overhears Pidge telling Keith he can finish the movie without her while she helps Lance. Lance doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to focus now with all of the stuff that happened within the past five minutes. He met a new dog, reconnected with an old classmate, said classmate is now blind… Physics. Physics, it’s time to study for physics.

 

…

 

Keith finishes the movie and let’s Pidge know he’s going to take Zinnia outside. He harnesses her and she guides him outside with little trouble. It’s odd that one of Pidge’s other friends is someone who knew him before he went blind, Keith doesn’t have any friends who knew him before he was blind. It’s odd to hear about himself playing soccer, he hasn’t been able to play many sports since losing his vision. He didn’t have 20/20 back then either (he never has), but he could play soccer, well enough to beat other people! Keith sometimes forgets about the times before he was blind, except in his dreams. One of Keith’s favorite things is when he dreams with visuals and it’s not just him trying to remember what a certain flower looks like or what his own brother looks like.

 

Zinnia does her business and starts to lead him back to Pidge’s apartment, she knows where to go for the elevator and what door is Pidge’s. He gets back into the apartment and goes to where he hears Pidge and Lance talking, the kitchen table. Pidge lets him know what seat is open so there’s no accidental lap sitting and Keith settles down. Keith checks his phone and replies to a text from Shiro, letting him know he’s at Pidge’s and didn’t wander into oncoming traffic.

 

“Keith,” Pidge says, catching his attention.

 

“Yeah?” He responds, looking to where he believes her face is.

 

“Your phone.” She says, not in an annoyed way, just a reminder.

 

“Oh, ha I forgot.” Keith says and puts his phone down on the table. He sometimes forgets that his phone is talking loudly and rapidly to him, he’s so used to that just being the way he uses his phone. Pidge has reminded him before, gently, because it’s not his fault he can’t see the screen and his phone has to describe each thing that his finger presses and he scrolls past. He gets it though, in this situation where Lance is trying to study for a test and his phone is rattling off the worried texts that Shiro had sent him.  

 

“I know, it’s fine. You want something to eat?” Pidge pats his arm and Keith smiles. Pidge’s chair scrapes against the floor as she scoots back to leave the table.

 

“White cheddar cheez-its?”

 

“Yeah, I already knew you were going to say that.” Pidge let’s him know she put the box in front of him and he pulls it closer to him. He almost forgets that Lance is there, besides the furious writing, until Pidge asks him if he wants anything.

 

“You know, I think I’m actually going to head out now, don’t want to infringe on your guys’s hang out time anymore,” Lance starts to pack up his things, Keith hears a notebook close and the zipper of his bag. Lance’s chair also scrapes against the floor.

 

“It’s okay, physics is hard.” Keith shrugs and drops a cheez it into his mouth.

 

“You’re in college?” Lance asks, his curiosity and surprise is obvious.

 

“Dropped out, but physics was hard when I took the class two years ago. I tried to get it out of the way in the beginning.” Keith explains and eats another cheez it.

 

“Why’d you drop out?” Lance sits back down in his seat, wanting to know more about Keith.

 

“College just wasn’t for me, I was taking classes and hoping for a job that just wouldn’t be possible. It was pretty much pointless, so I decided to stop wasting my time and money on something that was a dead end.” Keith realizes after saying all of this that that may have been a little heavy for basically a stranger.

 

“I still think you’re wrong, but whatever. You’ve never listened to me anyways. You know, if you just listened to me a little more often, you wouldn’t get into things so often. I definitely could have saved you a broken ankle last summer.” Pidge changes the subject for him and Keith is grateful. He straightens up in his seat a little and chews his cheez its.

 

“It was worth it.”

 

“Please tell me the story, I need to know now.” Lance says excitedly.

 

…

 

Lance ends up staying for a while, listening to Pidge and Keith tell stories. He originally didn’t want to overstay his welcome, but neither Keith or Pidge seemed that bothered by him staying and chatting. It was interesting hearing about Keith, Lance had never met a blind person before. They had moved from the kitchen to the couch, Lance pets Zinnia while Keith talks.

 

Pidge is in the middle of a sentence when Keith’s phone chirps. He picks it up and siri reads off that someone’s asking whether he needs a ride home.

 

“Tell Shiro I can drop you off.” Pidge says and Keith nods. He says it into his phone and sends the text, at least Lance thinks he does. Lance noticed earlier that when Keith is using his phone, the screen is still dark and off. It makes sense that he wouldn’t need the screen on, he can’t see it anyways, but it throws Lance off for a moment each time he notices it again. Lance realizes that it’s getting later into the afternoon and he probably should get more studying in for his test tomorrow, so he begins to stand.

 

“I should really get going, for real this time. I gotta keep studying tonight and I’m going out with Nyma later.” Lance says, the last part directed to Pidge because she actually knows Nyma.

 

“You know where the door is.” Pidge motions towards the door anyways, not willing to get up and walk Lance to the door.

 

“It was really good seeing you, Keith. We should catch up again, sometime.” Lance smiles and grabs his backpack.

 

“Yeah, maybe sometime.” Keith agrees. Lance gives Zinnia one final pat on the head and then he leaves.

 

…

 

“Weird that you guys know each other, right?” Pidge speaks up.

 

“Yeah, weird.” Keith nods thuoghtfully.

 

…

 

Pidge drops him off at home and Zinnia drags him upstairs. He’s tired and wants to sleep now. Shiro’s let’s him know he’s on the couch and Keith says a quick hello. He kicks off his boots by the door and starts to head for his room.

 

“Did Pidge get your shoes out for you?” Shiro asks and Keith remembers the day’s earlier events.

 

“Uh, about that… You may have to reorganize the closet again.” Keith suggests and retreats to his room before Shiro can get a word in. He changes into sweatpants and gets in bed, ready to fall asleep when his phone goes off. He grabs it from the bedside table and his phone reads off-

 

**From: Unknown**

 

**Pidge gave me your number, it’s Lance :)**

 

Keith’s a little confused at first as to why Lance wanted his number, but shrugs it off.

 

_From: Keith_

 

_Oh, cool_

 

Keith is exhausted and doesn’t have it in him to wait for a response. He hears his phone chirp in the back of his thoughts as his eyes droop closed in the darkness that he’s used to.

 

…

 

It’s been a few days since Keith had re-met Lance, but Lance has made it a point to text him everyday. They catch up easily, Keith feels like the rekindling of this friendship is happening with ease. Keith enjoys Lance’s texts, even though when Shiro heard one of them he teased him about his new friend.

 

Shiro offered to take Keith to lunch today, he wanted to try a new place that had just opened in town. Keith decided to just leave Zinnia at home in favor of sighted-guide today, which Shiro didn’t mind. Keith made sure to give Zinnia lots of love before leaving with Shiro.

 

The restaurant was actually pretty close to their apartment, so the drive there was less than ten minutes. Shiro led Keith inside and they found a open booth. When their waiter came around, Keith asked for a braille menu and surprise surprise, they didn’t have one. Keith rolled his eyes when the waiter apologized and asked for their drink orders. After he left Keith huffed.

 

“You want me to read the menu you to you?” Shiro asked.

 

“What else are we supposed to do?” Keith sighed. Was it really that hard to have a couple braille menus? Keith just picked out the first thing that sounded good, not wanting Shiro to have to keep reading through the menu. Shiro tried apologize about the menu, but Keith stopped him, it wasn’t his fault. After they ordered, Shiro started telling him about their parent’s invitation to come over that weekend.

 

“Do we have to go?” Keith asked with a frown. It’s not that Keith didn’t like his parents, he really appreciated them for all they had done for him. They were the ones who took care of him when he started losing his vision and coping with the loss. Let’s just say that first year was rough. Then Shiro left for college and his parents were just so overbearing. He would have thought that they would be the people in his life that wouldn’t doubt him because of his disability, but they weren’t. They babied him and it made him really angry for a long time.

 

Now, he felt that they had a better relationship since he moved out. It helped them realize that he could be independent. Sometimes, like this time, he just wouldn’t feel like going over to their house. It reminded him of too many memories that he just wasn’t always in the mood for.

 

“I think we should probably go.” Shiro replied. Just then, their food was brought to the table, but the waiter’s voice was different.

 

“Uh, one soup of the day and one- hey Keith!” It was Lance, of course it was Lance.

 

“Hey Lance, you work here?” Keith questioned.

 

“Yeah, my friend is a cook here and he was able to get me a job.” Lance explained and Keith nodded. “I wish I could talk, but I have a few tables to get to and my shift just started. Let me know if you need anything, okay?” Lance patted Keith’s shoulder and he heard Lance’s retreating footsteps.

 

“So I take it that that was Lance?” Shiro inquired and Keith hummed in agreement. Here it comes..

 

“If I didn’t know any better, it seemed like he was into you.” Shiro teased and Keith scowled.

 

“Don’t even start, okay?” Keith felt out for his sandwich and took a bite. He heard Shiro snicker a little and Keith shook his head. Asshole.

 

“Sorry, I guess won’t mention how excited he looked when he saw you and that he keeps looking over here.” Shiro said sarcastically and Keith took the bait.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, really. You guys should hang out sometime.” Shiro suggested and Keith shrugged.

 

“I don’t know… We’ve only been talking for a few days, I want to get to know him.”

 

“I didn’t say ask him out, I said hang out, geeze.” Shiro chuckled and Keith wished he could hit him without the risk of smacking something on the table. Keith shook his head, Shiro could laugh at him all he wanted, but Keith would get him back. He liked to think that he was fairly good at pranks for a blind person.

 

…

 

The opportunity arose and Keith needed a ride to the pet store. Him and Shiro were supposed to go a few days ago, but things kept coming up and now Zinnia was out of food. The pet store was too far away for him to walk there and he hated taking lyfts or ubers because he didn’t trust them. He went through his short list of contacts and none of them were available. He hit Lance’s contact and texted him, explaining the situation. He wasn’t expecting Lance to text back so quickly, but his phone chimed right away.

 

**From Lance:**

 

**Np txt me ur address**

 

Keith did just that and Lance told him he would be there in ten. Keith located his shoes by the door and put them on, then found his black hoodie hanging up. He hooked Zinnia up on her harness and headed to his room to grab his wallet. He heard a knock on the door signalling Lance’s arrival, so he went to open the door. Lance greeted him and Zinnia, then they left the apartment. Lance helped get Zinnia in his car and then Keith.

 

“Which pet store?” Lance asked and Keith answered. Lance hummed along to the radio and Keith leaned back in his seat.

 

“I’m sorry to inconvenience you.” Keith apologized.

 

“No, it’s totally fine, I wasn’t doing anything anyways.” Lance said. They chatted idly, Lance doing most of the talking. It didn’t take long to get to the pet store and Lance helped get Zinnia out of the car.

 

With Zinnia’s harness on, she led Keith to the entrance of the store. Zinnia recognized the store and was acting quite excited. Lance laughed at Zinnia’s excitement and Keith smiled. Keith asked Lance to lead Zinnia and him to the dog food and Lance obliged. Keith told him what brand to get and Lance offered to carry the bag for him. They went up to the front of the store to the cash registers. Keith paid and they continued back to the car.

 

“You want to get coffee?” Lance asked and Keith nodded. The coffee shop was in walking distance, so they left the car parked and walked to it instead. Keith told Lance his coffee order and waited at one of the outside tables with Zinnia. Zinnia sat down and plopped her head into Keith’s lap for him to pet. Keith waited patiently, Zinnia seemed happy to just be hanging out, enjoying the fall weather.

 

Lance didn’t take long to come back with the drinks and let Keith know his was fairly hot. “Oh, I also got a water for Zinnia, can I give it to her?” Keith nodded and felt Zinnia lift her head up from his lap. Keith was a bit taken back, as little as it was, he really appreciated that Lance had thought of his dog too. It wasn’t something that most people thought of.

 

“So, what have you been up to since middle school?” Lance laughed a little, Keith noted that he had a pleasant laugh.

 

“School… then dropping out of school. Now just work.” Keith shrugged.

 

“Where do you work?” Lance asked. Things continued like this while they drank their coffees, catching each other up on their lives.

 

“C-can I ask something that you totally don’t have to answer…?” Lance prompted.

 

“How did it happen, right?” Keith guessed.

 

“Um, no actually. I was just wondering if you ever wished you could still see?” Lance said. There was a pause in their conversation. Zinnia shifted so that she was leaning against Keith’s legs. Keith looked down.

 

“It’s been so long since I was able to see that I think things would be really overwhelming if I could see again. There are times that I wish I could see a specific thing again.” Keith replied.

 

 

…

 

Lance dropped Keith back at home and helped him bring the dog food up to his apartment. They said their goodbyes, Lance hugged him (!!!), and he left. Keith sat down andwatched tv to pass the time until Shiro got home from work and made dinner. The next day came too quickly, and the siblings were

on there way to their parents house.

 

Inside their childhood home, Keith lounged on the couch and ignored his parents, pretty much how things were like the last year before he moved out. His dad sat on the chair beside the couch, watching tv, while his mom and Shiro stayed talking in the kitchen. Eventually, his mom called everyone into the kitchen for diner. Shiro rattled on about his work, absorbing the attention of their parents, which Keith was grateful for. It only lasted for so long before the focus moved back to Keith.

 

“You and Adam are quite serious Shiro, are you guys going to move in with each other soon?” Their Mom asked curiously.

 

“Eventually.” Shiro shrugged.

 

“And Keith, you could always move back home when that happens.” His mom offered. Keith rolled his eyes and set his fork down. He pointedly looked in her direction with a frown. “What!? Honey, you’re not expecting to live on your own are you?”

 

“Mom-” Shiro started, but she shushed him.

 

“He can’t, Shiro. There’s some things that he just can’t do, and that’s one of them. He should move back home.” She said.

 

“I’m twenty-three, if you think I’m moving back in with my parents now, you’re fucking wrong.” Keith crossed his arms and looked away.

 

“Language.” Their dad finally said something.

 

“I don’t even know why we’re talking about this right now, Adam and I are not moving in with each other anytime soon, Ma.” Shiro tried to end the conversation.

 

“I’m just being realistic.” She sighed. At that, Keith got up from the table and left the kitchen. He found himself in his old bedroom, laying in his bed, with the door shut.

 

He unlocked his phone and scrolled through his messages. The only unread one was from Lance about an hour ago.

 

**From Lance:**

 

**u busy tuesday?**

 

_From Keith:_

 

_What time? I work in the morning._

 

Keith laid there for a few minutes until his phone pinged.

 

**From Lance:**

 

**abt 7:30, pick u up?**

 

_From Keith:_

 

_What are we doing?_

 

**From Lance:**

 

**its a surprise :)**

 

Keith sighed and put his phone down next to him. He could tell that there was some sort of conversation going on outside his bedroom. All of a sudden, the door burst open, startling Keith.

 

“C’mon, we’re going.” Shiro said. After that awkward dinner, Keith had no complaints and hopped out of bed to follow Shiro out. He said a quick goodbye to his parents and they ducked out.

 

The first half of the drive was pretty quiet, Shiro was huffy and wouldn’t stop taping his fingers against the steering wheel. Keith couldn’t find it in himself to stay angry, shit like this has been happening for so long now, it didn’t really affect him much.

 

“It’s fine, Shiro.” Keith broke the silence.

 

“It’s not fine! Why does she have to do that? She acts like you’re a little kid, like you can’t handle yourself!” Shiro took a turn quickly and Keith jerked to the right. “Shit, sorry Keith.”

 

“It’s okay.” Keith said. “Shiro, really. You don’t have to get upset about this for me, I’m over it.”

 

“That’s what I’m mad about! You’re so used to this-this injustice, it’s just another day of people treating you like your incapable of everything!” Keith rolled his eyes at the injustice part, but otherwise was glad that someone was finally recognizing this. “If I ever make you feel like that, tell me, and I’ll cut it out.”


End file.
